June 25
2008

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience, but no existing orders will be filled. We appreciate your support of this program, and again apologize to those who placed advance orders and to fans alike.”

That's a shame since this tie-in seemed to generate a lot of interest.

Given that, it presumably wasn't for lack of demand, wonder what happened ? Copyright infringement (can you copyright superstitions ? Cos if so, dibs on touching wood and the one about spilled salt ;) ? Or maybe someone vetoed their likeness ?

Wow, I really wanted to get this, not so much because of the tarot aspect but because the art they had shown was amazing. I really hope, like Moley said, that they could put the art to some sort of use, because it was really well done.

I'll speculate that this is more of a production cost issue than anything else. I remember the price being $14.95 a few months back when this first was announced. Now when I click the link, it shows a price of $30. I could be wrong (as this is just from memory) but I can totally picture myself saying, "wow, 15 bucks, maybe I'll get two sets."

I'll bet the cost of production of this high quality, heavy paper set was much higher than anticipated by Dark Horse.

I don't know why this issue would have cropped up now and not much, much sooner, but is it possible one of those whose likenesses were to appear hadn't been checked with? Perhaps they don't have to have everyone's approval on the comics, but didn't realize this might not be the same contractual thing?

Also, I've had a few friends who, despite not being particularly superstitious, are really, really wigged out by tarot cards. If someone who was going to appear in the cards falls into that category, they might be expected to make a big fuss.

Totally unfounded speculation, go! But I am curious how one negotiates rights to this sort of thing, especially with such a large cast potentially appearing.

(Also, aww. They were indeed listing at 15 bucks, but I most likely would've bought one at 30 if that'd been it)

I think it's just a reflection of the economic times we're in. I reckon we're going to see more and more comic book/tv related products getting cancelled across the board. Diamond has pretty much killed off their Buffy action figure range (last time I looked anyhow).

I think it's a long walk to blame the economy for a tarot deck being cancelled -- it's not like people are buying fewer Wii's.

Personally, I always thought it, and the "Not a Ouija" board were... pretty tacky as far as merchandising tie-ins. What was coming up after that, Sunnydale Monopoly (okay, that would be pretty cool)? Season 8 "Risk"?

Fewer parlor games, somewhat more console or PC games, an MMO, maybe a direct-to-DVD animated movie to fill in between Season 7 and Season 8.

Given what we know of the actors, the only one who seems likely to entirely withhold permission might be Robia LaMorte, and her absence might diminish, but would certainly not torpedo, the deck. HOWEVER, I can see that licensing costs might be too high for some actors or charaters--does IDW have any sort of exclusivity over Angel, Spike, etc.?

NYPinTA, I'm with you! (and I'm the car ~ a DeSoto of course) How tremendously cool would a Sunnydale Monoply be?

Think of the properties: Willy's Alibi Room, The Bronze, City Hall, Sunnydale High, each of the character's houses, Spike's crypt, the sewer system, Lowell House and UC Sunnydale, the Initiative complex,... the options are endless and all spectacular!

I may be imagining it, but I swear I remember seeing a "make your own"-opoly kit or template for sale online somewhere. I may have to do some investigating......

ETA: The "make your own" kits are pretty lame and missing key Monopoly aspects. The official Hasbro-sanctioned kit allows only limited customization and is available only to UK customers, although it is printed on an official board and comes with nice packaging and all the original bits and pieces.

Monopoly, Buffy Edition! Each color-bar neighborhood a different season's locations: purple (season 1) Principal Flutie's office and the school cafeteria, gray (season 2) the school library, the cemetery and the factory, maroon (season 3) Giles's apartment, Angel's pad and the Mayor's office, etc. Jail is the Hellmouth, Free Parking is the Bronze.

I had one "Scotland Yard" game where we are supposed to play as Sherlock Holmes to solve crimes.
This could be a good game with a Buffy version. Like, we should find out who had commited the crime, how and the way to kill the monster.

I'm really sad about this too. I don't think it was production costs that killed it; many tarot decks are in the 30 dollar range. There's a Vertigo tarot set that costs 40. The "circumstances beyond our control" line makes me think it has something to do with rights.

I, for one, am outraged. I was really looking forward to it... REALLY... I was going to buy two decks, one to keep in the package forever (and to therefore accumulate value), and one to play with and admire, and possibly frame... T_T

Boo nouns! I was really looking forward to that deck. It was part of my ultimate plan to make my entire store Whedonized (you should see our Graphic Novel display!) Man, like, if you do Tarot, shouldn't you have seen this coming? The creepy Ouija board says....YES.

*sob* I really wanted this, as I've been thinking about learning tarot for a while now, and it seemed like the perfect way to get into it.

I'm more bummed about the art, though. It's so fantastic that I sincerely hope that Dark Horse or the artist figure out some way to get that out to us. I don't think I could afford originals, but I'd love to buy a print. And such work should absolutely not go to waste, especially as it seems that there are so many of us who wanted it.

If it is some sort of permission issue, I wonder if there's a way around it that would lead to a different version of the deck being released sometime in the future? Please?

Ha ha, There is a "Make Your Own Opoly" and I completely am in the process of making my own Buffy-opoly. I was torn between using locations or using episodes for the specific spaces. Cause who wouldn't hold out to buy Hush or Once More with Feeling?